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Sunday, February 14, 2016

A Little Further

I started doing Yoga in 2009. When I tried to touch my toes, I missed by about half a metre. I had only been working at a desk for just over half a decade, but I was not in... good nick. A few years later, and now being a Yoga Teacher who helps other beginners, I don't feel too bad. Seems most desk jockeys can't touch their toes. They say desks are this generation's cigarettes. We are meant to move.

One of the things I love about yoga is the feeling of going a little further. Just a little. When I am practising regularly, almost every session takes me slightly deeper into the posture. My breath feels a little more comfortable. I come out feeling a touch more relaxed. Even in my very first class I learnt how to relax enough to shave a centimetre off the distance to the floor. Do a little.

A Little Adds Up

Now I am trying to apply my Yoga approach to training for the Comrades. This morning I took a train trip to visit my brother. My brother is awesome. He discovered a love of running a few years back, and said he would pace me for an attempt at edging my distance record forward. My pace goal was not ambitious. I am trying to go at almost the slowest I am allowed to go in order to qualify. We headed out at a comfortable 6:30 minutes per kilometre. At this pace, you can chat. You can look at the scenery. You can breathe comfortably.

And like my Yoga sessions, I edged a little further. Today, I ran 30km in 3h15m. The farthest I had run was two weeks ago at 27km. The farthest I had run a year ago was 10km.

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Swart Donkey

Swart means Black (my surname) in Afrikaans. I am proud of my African roots but am a global citizen who believes that we should look to define ourselves collectively by the great things we can achieve. I believe in freedom of people and ideas and that we are moving towards a more friendly, happy world. Like a Donkey, I can be noisy, stubborn and ignorant - but like a Donkey I am willing to put effort in to change. The focus of this blog is happiness and learning - so basically, it is a blog on everything.